


a dash of ladybug wings

by Like_A_Dove



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo is real good at repressing his feelings SHOCKING, Companionable Snark, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Rey is clueless but in a precious way, everyone is a witch or a warlock, stay tuned, very excited and supportive best friend Finn, will Ben go down on Rey once the potion wears off and we are out of dubcon territory?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:42:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23304070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Like_A_Dove/pseuds/Like_A_Dove
Summary: In which Ben accidentally ingests a love potion Rey was working on and proceeds to act exactly the same as always.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 214
Kudos: 1122
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	1. part one

The bell above the door chimes, jolting Rey from the near half asleep stupor she’d been settling in at her desk.

Blinking sleepily, she stands and stretches her arms above her head while yawning like a cat. “Is it tomorrow already?” she mumbles incoherently to her coworker.

Ben Solo lets the door leading outside close behind him with a slam. “No.” He doesn’t take his eyes off of her as he walks to his own respective desk on the other side of the room and sets his things down. “It’s today.”

His morose expression finally comes into focus as Rey’s brain sluggishly awakens. She groans and rubs at her eyes, head throbbing a little from lack of sleep. “Sorry. I haven’t left since  _ you _ left last night.”

Ben’s morose expression turns quisitive as he swivels his head to get a look at the smoldering cauldron hanging by the massive fireplace in the corner of the room. “Does Leia know the new recipe she requested is giving you so much trouble?”

Rey would bristle if she wasn’t already so used to Ben and his barbs. “The new recipe isn’t giving me  _ trouble _ , Ben. It’s a love tonic, which you  _ know _ are my specialty. Leia wants a tweaked recipe so the effects last a little longer. Which means it has to simmer in a cauldron for hours and hours over low heat. I can’t just go buy a blender from Big Lots and whip up four batches in an hour like you do for your guardian draughts—”

Ben grows so angry so quickly Rey has to cover her mouth to hide her grin. “It’s a fucking professional grade Vitamix, of which you are well aware. And I won’t apologize for being efficient with the way I make my potions while you’re still pouring over frou frou spells in centuries old spell books like we’re in  _ Hocus Pocus _ !”

Rey leaps to her feet, all amusement having leaked from her body, when a gurgling noise comes from the cauldron. Rosy smoke begins to billow from the tonic, filling the room with a sweet, sweet scent. Rey breathes it in deeply before exhaling the smoke in a pleased sigh. The tonic is done and it smells perfect.

This means that all Rey has to do is quickly vial up the now completed tonic and send it off to Leia for distribution. Then she can finally go home and get some—

“Wonderful.” Ben’s voice sounds calm from where it’s coming from the other side of their shared office. “Now the whole room smells like Cupid’s asscrack.”

**

Two days later and Rey has finally returned to work after some much deserved time off. It’s one of the many reasons why Rey likes working for Leia and  _ Alderaan Spells & Potions _ ; the woman always knows when her employees have earned a couple of extra paid days off. She’s easily the most fair boss Rey has ever had. In fact, Rey would argue that Leia Organa is easily one of the best people she knows just in general.

Leia’s son, however, is a different story.

Ben is gruff and huffy and rude, and Rey isn’t sure how she got stuck sharing an office with him in the first place. The two of them couldn’t be more different with their brewing techniques, or what they even  _ like _ to brew, for that matter.

She will give the man one thing, he at least keeps his space neat and cleans up after himself. Something Rey will admit she’s not always the best at doing.

She’s come in a little early today so that she can take a picture of her new tonic for the Instagram account she has to promote her tonics. She’s discovered that the small shelf of books on her desk paired with the fireplace in the background can make for a lovely photo op.

Rey pulls up the camera on her phone and arranges a steaming cup of herbal tea she conjured just  _ so _ , before popping open a fresh vial of her new tonic with her free hand and pouring it into the tea. She starts clicking rapidly, capturing several photos of the steam turning pink and swirling into a perfect heart shape.

As soon as the steam dissipates Rey scrolls through her new pictures, grinning at several fantastic choices she’ll have for her Instagram.

Several text messages come in from Finn informing her that there’s been an emergency down in the restorative elixir department and could she come at once to help out?

Rey doesn’t need to be asked twice and disappears out the door a moment later to help her friend.

**

An hour and a half passes before Rey returns to her office, only slightly exasperated and sweater only slightly singed. Ben is there, watching calmly as a batch of his guardian potions transport themselves from his fancy blender into empty vials. He barely glances at Rey as she shuts the door behind him.

“You reek of smoke,” he says with a haughty sniff.

“Yes, well Poe blew up another cauldron—”

Ben snorts.

“—so Finn asked me if I could come down and help, which I did.” 

Ben’s gaze darts to the burnt sleeve of her blue sweater. “I see that worked out well for you.” He taps his desk and a sleek notebook shuffles its way out of a drawer and in front of Ben, falling open to a page only half full of elegant notes. “I don’t know why you bother, Dameron is sure to blow up something else in an hour or so. I have no idea why my mother keeps him on.”

Rey, though secretly agreeing that Poe probably will blow something else up within the hour, bristles on behalf of her friend. “Leia keeps him on for the same reason she keeps you on despite your bad attitude - you’re both extremely talented warlocks.”

Ben answers her the same way he does every time Rey pays him a compliment - with a shrug and an eye roll. “Right.”

Rey sits down at her desk and pulls out her own notebook, frowning and not quite able to look away from her vexing coworker.

“Anyway,” Ben continues, a fountain pen soaring into his hand from a different drawer, “please remember to keep a better eye on the ladybugs you use, some of them escaped from their jar yesterday—”

That’s when Rey notices that her teacup is empty. It takes a few moments for Rey’s brain to register why this is significant, and when she does she makes a strangled noise and grabs at the teacup, turning it over and inspecting it as if that will somehow make the liquid reappear.

Ben notices her fidgeting. “Oh yeah, I drank that,” he says, not nearly as alarmed as Rey thinks he should be.

“You what?” she squeaks, freezing in place.

“I drank your tea,” he informs her. His eyes widen a little as he takes in the assuredly stunned expression on Rey’s face. “What? You hate cold tea, you said I could have any tea you make if it ever gets cold, and that cup of tea had gotten cold, and I was thirsty. I can refill it if you want but the only thing I can conjure is black tea and you always complain that it’s too strong which, you’re incorrect but—Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m not looking at you!” Rey shrieks, teacup slipping from her grasp and shattering against the floor. 

She and Ben both stare down at the cup fragments for a long moment before Ben narrows his eyes at her. “You’re acting really weird.”

“No I’m not!” Rey snaps her fingers and the teacup fuses itself back together perfectly before soaring to rest in its rightful place atop her desk. 

“Yeah you are.”

“No,” Rey splutters. “I am absolutely not acting—I mean weirdness is relative, and I mean—You don’t even know me that well so how would you even know that I’m acting weird? So yeah. I’m totally not doing that. I’m not being weird.”

_ Ben Solo drank a love potion and I’m the one who technically served it which means he’s supposed to be in love with me holy shit I can’t deal with this right now he’s going to be so upset with me when it wears off and he finds out oh my god but why is he acting the same— _

He scrutinizes her for a beat. “Wow, okay. First, I’ve known you for six years and shared an office space with you every day for four, so I like to think I know you fairly well based on that alone. But also, I held your hair back for you while you hurled up everything inside your body at the Tico’s Winter Solstice party last year—”

“That was  _ you?! _ ”

“—and I feel like knowing what your vomit looks and smells like puts me on a level that’s slightly above acquaintance. So, yeah. I think you’re being really fucking weird right now.”

Rey swallows.

_ Ok but he isn’t acting any different he’s definitely still scoffing at me oh my god did the love tonic not work because he also hasn’t exhibited my signature side effect so maybe it didn’t work but if it didn’t work then oh my god I sent off a totally worthless batch of tonics to Leia— _

The crinkling of a wrapper flings Rey out of her frazzled reverie. “What’s that?” she gasps, peering at whatever is in Ben’s hands.

Ben pauses. “A Twix bar,” he says slowly, as if Rey is both dumb and skittish. Which, given the way she’s acted in the past few minutes, fair.

“But you hate candy,” she says weakly, heart rate skyrocketing as the truth of the situation starts to set in.

Because Rey’s signature side effect in her love tonics is a craving for sweets. 

And Ben Solo hates sweets. 

He shrugs, gives her a funny look, then bites into the chocolate. He refocuses to his notebook and begins scrawling into it with his free hand, perfectly intent to ignore Rey.

Rey, who has been tossed head first into an existential crisis.

Because Ben Solo ingested her love tonic. And Rey’s tonics are strong and she knows that it’s working because Rey is an  _ excellent _ witch and and—

Ben Solo ingested her love tonic.

And yet Ben Solo is acting the same as always which means—

“You just drooled on yourself,” Ben points out, sounding bored. When did he even look back up at her? Rey shuts her mouth quickly, barely registering that she’s still staring at him.

_ He’s treating her the same as he always has.  _

Surly, grumpy Ben Solo is really, truly in love with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original prompt is on the Reylo Curious Cat Prompt twitter and is as follows: "Ben accidentally ingests a love potion Rey was making for a client but he doesn't act any different than he normally does."
> 
> I sincerely hope the first part of this fun little ficlet made you laugh. The world sucks right now and I know how much we can all use a little extra silliness and joy in our days at the moment. I hope you are all staying inside and are safe! The second part should hopefully be finished and posted by this weekend.
> 
> I have [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_) and [tumblr](https://likeadove.tumblr.com/) if you wish to come vibe with me while we're all stuck in quarantine.
> 
> If you liked PLEASE let me know! Especially if I made you laugh <3


	2. part two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your lovely response to this fic! As y'all can see, the chapter count went up.
> 
> I do what I want!!

FOUR YEARS EARLIER

**

Rey is only half listening to Leia at the moment. Her new boss is jabbering away at her as she leads Rey down a wood panelled hallway lined with portraits of famous and not-so-famous magic folk who have worked here throughout the centuries.

This place has an impressive history, considering the outside of it resembles a run down Poptart plant to anyone who doesn’t know better. Rey had driven past the building several times this morning while searching for this place.

Leia points out the gorgeous painting of a regal looking woman decked out in a glittering headpiece and eccentric makeup. “That’s my mother, Padme Amidala, a true one-of-a-kind witch and a remarkable woman to boot.” Leia smiles up at the picture fondly as they walk by.

Rey’s cauldron, large and old and fiercely loyal for a non-sentient object, gently bumps against her elbow in excitement. “Yes, yes,” Rey swats it back, peering over her shoulder at the cauldron and small box of personal items that are floating along in the air beside her. “We’re almost there.”

“Yes, we are,” Leia agrees, coming to a stop in front of a seemingly nondescript door. Leia’s hand is wrapping around the doorknob when a loud  _ bang _ coming from inside the room, followed by a lot of furious swearing, makes her pause.

“Is my office mate a goblin?” Rey asks, feeling curiosity brim up inside her. “I’ve never met a goblin before—”

“No, not a goblin. Just my idiot son.” And with that Leia opens the door to Rey’s new office and strides inside, leaving Rey still standing at the threshold frozen in shock.

_ Ben Solo is her new office mate?! _

Rey has met Leia’s son a handful of times during the two years that she's been creating her tonics independently at home and selling them in bulk to Leia’s company. He’s always been a bit standoffish and, aside from noticing that he’s handsome despite never smiling, Rey hasn’t had a lot of one-on-one interactions with the man.

She’s certainly heard a lot about him, however.

“Rey, you coming?”

Nodding dazedly, Rey walks into the room, her cauldron and box of things bobbing inside behind her.

Leia points to a large desk and work table area. “This is where you’ll be working…” The older witch begins to rattle off where the break room is as well as the storage room for ingredients, but Rey finds herself being unable to listen.

Ben is siphoning smoke from the room using magic, and while Leia seems completely undisturbed by this Rey is watching him with wide eyes. The man moves about like a storm, casting about heavy energy wherever he goes. His brown gaze flicks over to her and Rey feels herself stand up straighter under his scrutiny.

And then Leia is shaking Rey’s hand and wishing her the best of luck before zooming back out of the workroom and into the hallway. She is a busy witch, after all.

Once the door shuts behind Leia, Rey gestures to her new desk. She and Ben watch quietly as her cauldron flies to its new spot on the worktable, while Rey’s box of personal effects begins to unpack itself, each individual item zooming out to its new home at various places on her desk.

Rey finally shifts her attention back to Ben, clearing her throat and reaching out her hand for a proper greeting.

Ben slides his palm against her own, pale skin smooth and cool. Something tinges in the back of Rey’s head, a feeling that maybe this is the beginning of something potentially life changing. Rey has never considered herself a hopeless romantic, despite her affiliation for love tonics, but maybe this man—

“ _ That’s _ your cauldron?” Ben drops his hand from her own, and the slight condescension in his tone makes all the warm fuzzies in Rey’s chest evaporate. “It looks like you got it at the Spirit Halloween store.”

Smirking, Rey crosses her arms over her chest. So it’s going to be like this, then. She’s worked with worse. “Since it looks like you’re making draughts using a blender that came from the clearance aisle at Wal-Mart, we’re just two peas in a pod, aren’t we?”

Rey watches in mild delight as the tips of Ben’s ears turn red.

And so it goes.

**

NOW

**

It’s been about two hours since Rey discovered that Ben drank her love tonic and since then he’s eaten a lot more candy and barked at her for letting the ladybugs escape again.

“If their wings get into my blender then the integrity of my entire concealment potion will be compromised.” His eyes are narrowed at her from the other side of the room, and usually Rey would have her own narrowed right back. But she’s hardly been able to think straight since she walked into this room and found that stupid teacup empty.

“Sure thing,” she mumbles, clearing her throat and humming a soft tune. The ladybugs that had gone rogue fly back over to her side of the room, drawn to her gentle magic. She opens their jar and quietly directs the ladybugs back into their home. 

Rey has always thought that Ben has disliked her.

Well, alright. That’s not true.

She didn’t really think that Ben disliked her, but she never thought he  _ liked _ her either. He always seems annoyed with her for some reason or another, and he has the tendency to snap at her often while they’re working.

But...Rey does the exact same thing to him.

And, now that she thinks about it, as annoyed as Ben might get with her, he’s never made her feel like an untalented witch. He teases her methods, sure, but she in turn teases his. And neither of them are ever cruel with their jabs.

And he does always drift over to her when they both have to be at the same work function.

And he always cleans up the insane messes she makes without asking and without any form of complaint. 

And Poe has mentioned multiple times that Ben has never tolerated an office mate for this long before, nor has Ben ever badmouthed her to any of their shared coworkers. And as much as Ben has driven her crazy in the past four years, Rey has never found herself actually wanting to transfer to another office. She’s never bemoaned about him to Leia, either.

Now that Rey really thinks about it, she and Ben even have their own tea rituals, for fuck sake. That’s part of the reason why she’s in this current predicament.

She turns in her chair, peeking at him out of the corner of her eye. His brows are drawn down in focus as he crushes moon herbs into a fine powder. He’s rolled his sleeves up to just past his elbows, exposing the muscles of his forearms as he works.

Rey swallows.

She had thought that Ben was handsome even before she shared an office with him, but had never really entertained the idea of  _ them  _ beyond that first jab he’d made about her beloved cauldron. But now...now Rey has given up at only simply peeking and is now openly staring at Ben’s very, very nice forearms.

She bets everything else he has is very, very nice as well.

The muscles in Ben’s forearms stop their enticing movements, and it takes Rey a few beats to realize it’s because Ben has stopped working altogether and is now staring at her too.

“Rey.”

He’s concerned about her, she can hear it in the soft tone of his voice. “I know you’ve been insisting all day that you’re not acting weird, but you’re beginning to scare me.”

_ Me and you both. _

But instead of being honest and voicing her truth, Rey stands abruptly and makes her way to the door leading out to the hallway. “I just - have to talk to Finn!”

Finn, her best friend in all the world.

He’ll know what the hell to do.

**

Finn cannot stop laughing.

Honestly, Rey isn’t sure why she expected a different reaction. “ _ Finn _ ,” she hisses, “quit being so loud, people are looking!”

“Sorry!” he wheezes, grasping her shoulder and trying to catch his breath. “I just wasn’t expecting you to barrel in here to tell me _ that _ .”

He leads her over to his small but homey cubicle. The restorative elixir department is much larger than Rey’s department, which is basically just herself, and Finn shares the floor with eight other witches and warlocks. Finn takes a seat in front of his desk. He offers Rey a seat as well but she declines with a shake of her head, having too much nervous energy to sit.

He clears his throat. “Okay, jokes aside, what’s up?”

Finn and Rey stare unblinkingly at each other for several long, drawn out moments before Rey finally snaps. “I—Good god. As I said, Ben accidentally drank one of my love potions and he’s just!” Rey waves her arms around, not even sure what she’s trying to communicate or emphasize. “Acting the same as always!”

Finn presses his lips together and tilts his head back and forth, contemplating. “If he’s acting totally normal around you then maybe you’re wrong, maybe he didn’t drink your tonic.”

“But!” Rey can hardly spit words out, her thoughts are swirling around so violently in her head. “This afternoon alone I’ve witnessed the man eat a Twix bar—”

Finn goes completely still, eyes wide.

“—a Hershey bar, and a handful of those gross caramels that only old ladies eat.” Rey lowers her voice into a whisper yell. “And what is Ben Solo notorious for never eating?!” She and Finn say the next part together. “Sweets!”

Joy lights up Finn’s face and, to Rey’s horror, he begins to sing. “ _ My lovely friend, a man is in love with youuuuuuuuuuuuu— _ ”

Rey clamps a hand over his mouth. “Quit serenading me! I need you to help me, tell me what to do!”

Finn wraps his fingers around her wrist and gently pulls her hand away. “Well, do you love him?”

Instead of answering Rey simply squeaks.

“Okay, okay, let's cross that bridge later,” Finn quickly says, clearly trying to calm his spiraling friend. “Why not just ask him?”

“Ask him what?”

“Ask him if he loves you.”

Rey scoffs. “That’s a terrible idea.”

Finn shrugs. “It’s what I would do. It’s what I  _ did _ , actually. You can ask Rose. I just walked up to her and asked if she had feelings for me and she was honest and look at us! Happy as clams.”

Rey can feel sweat starting to bead along her hairline. “I don’t know if he’ll appreciate me being so blunt with a matter like this, plus—”

_ Plus what if I’m totally wrong? _

“I don’t think he communicates with anything  _ other _ than bluntness,” Finn smoothly interrupts her. “Just be forthright and ask him if it’s true. What’s the worst that could happen? He says no and you both go back to being office mates? Pretty low risk, if you ask me.”

If Rey hadn’t spent the majority of the day on the verge of a panic attack she probably would have given more thought to taking Finn’s advice. But something spurns her out of the elixir department and right back to the hallway leading to the office she shares with Ben.

It occurs to her that Ben doesn’t just drift to her during shared work functions; they drift to each other.

It occurs to her that she leaves messes for Ben to clean up on purpose, because for whatever reason it makes her feel cared for, makes her feel like someone has her back. And maybe all this time he’s been cleaning up after her to show her he does care.

It occurs to her that she makes tea all the time and purposely lets it get cold, knowing that that’s how Ben likes it but also knowing he won’t actually go through the humiliation of making it himself.

_ That’s what’s spurning me forward _ , Rey realizes.  _ I  _ **_want_ ** _ him to say yes. I want him to say yes because I love him too. _

The door to her office swings open on its own accord, reacting to the whirlwind of feelings and magic inside of her. As soon as she steps inside, Ben rounds on her immediately.

“Where the fuck have you been?!” he shouts. He jerks a thumb over his shoulder, indicating her cauldron. The room smells of sulfur. “Were you aware you left something in there? Were you aware that, when left unattended, whatever was in there would explode—”

“Are you in love with me?” Rey asks it so softly that she’s not really sure how Ben hears her. But he does hear her, because his mouth clamps shut in shock. His jaw works, and Rey can almost hear the wheels churning in his head over her own hammering heart beat.

Ben lips part and Rey’s heart  _ soars _ because this is it, it’s been a crazy day but at least—

“No.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOL they're all so dumb.
> 
> Anyway, is it really a fic written by me if there isn't the tiniest amount of angst? Don't worry folks, it's a short fic so everyone's suffering will also be short.
> 
> Once again, thank y'all so much for your amazing response to this story! I guess I underestimated how much magic and silliness and fluff we all need in our lives right now. I hope you guys enjoyed this update and that it was just as fun as the first!
> 
> Come hang out with me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_) and [tumblr](https://likeadove.tumblr.com/)! Warning, I got laid off a few days ago so I cannot guarantee the quality of the shitposting.
> 
> If you liked let me know!


End file.
